Today’s intro section will be just that, and nothing more. I’m tired of trying to figure it out, so I’m taking a hiatus from doing so…. Our only purpose here today is to get this done, so we can get on with it. Too much going on to even explain, so, in the interests of maintaining honesty, we’ll go immediately into emergency exit #4, which, as y’all know, works like this….

Shall we Pearl?

“Pardon him, Theodotus, he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.” — George Bernard Shaw

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Spock passed from this world yesterday…. Leonard Nimoy, who became Spock in the eyes and minds of the world, died at the age of 83, having lived long, and prospered. We’ll all miss him, that’s for sure…. Here is my own small tribute, in a slightly different vein than most you’ll see today…. This one celebrates the fun he gave us, along with the wisdom… Enjoy!….

I enjoy the words of Alan Watts, and have done so since first reading one of his books in college, many years ago. His command of English is so deep and wide that he is somewhat hard to read, due to the weight and depth of both the material under discussion, and of the words he chooses to use. But, working one’s way through to the end of what he writes is well worth all the effort, for he explains the complex, and yet simple, wisdom of the Eastern religions and philosophies, in Western terms, so they are comprehensible to those same Western thinkers, with a clarity heretofore unseen. This particular line is one of his most simply written, yet is still deep and insightful…..

With one swift phrase, Reality is laid bare for all to understand, showing its flexibility, it’s malleable nature able to become whatever we perceive it to be. Each of us has our own interpretation of what we perceive as reality, and it is often very different than what others may believe it to be. Sometimes, I am absolutely amazed at the variety of perceptions that people describe, and feel a lot of satisfaction, on one level at least. That is the level of interaction…. I think it is just wonderful, that people from so many different backgrounds, and so many different ways of looking at the same thing, can still live together on one planet in relative harmony.

It would seem apparent that so many differing viewpoints would cause a lot of trouble, and to some extent that’s true…. There is a lot of trouble on this world, and Reality is not a place for the weak or timid to hang out safely. But, mostly, all the various attitudes and outlooks on life seem to shuffle along without much conflict, at the personal level, compared to what might be expected. One of those little unexplained miracles in life that we often don’t see, or appreciate….. The phenomenon is even more pronounced in institutions such as mental hospitals, where the visions of reality are of such a nature as to seem limitless in their variety. I was always impressed at how people from so many different parts of the galaxy were able to live together in peace…. :-)

For me, the best part about the nature of Reality is this chameleon-like quality: it can be anything we want it to be. We can accept the perceptions it sends us, and even see, and understand, what those are describing to others, thus making it convenient for us to communicate about it. Or, we can choose to alter those perceptions, either in the way we receive them, or in the way we interpret them; either method gives us control over exactly how we view what is now a somewhat questionable form of Reality.

(It occurs to me that maybe I should use the capitalization technique, as with the words ‘pearl’, and ‘Pearl’…. Yeah, that’s the ticket… Okay, so ‘Reality’, capitalized, is what we all agree to see, and ‘reality’ is what each of us sees personally, with the word ‘see’ used to indicate ‘perceive’ because it’s a shorter word, took less time to type, and allowed me to further obfuscate matters in order to create the need to clear them up….. That should help clarify where we are in a sentence, even if it doesn’t actually simplify things at all…..)

Speaking of knowing where we are, this discussion seems to have reached a point where the next destination may be out of reach. Oh, not that the reality of it is too abstruse, or complicated, or even merely disgusting. No, it’s just too esoteric for me at 0815 in the morning, after already composing a couple thousand words on human nature and and the nature of Reality. It is almost a depressing come-down to have to consider ending this, since it was flowing so well, but, the perfect closing pearl showed itself, and I’m not one to argue with Smart Bee, or Zippy….. Stay alert, ffolkes, Reality can suck, and it can bite, when it’s not being nice…..

“I guess it was all a DREAM.. or an episode of HAWAII FIVE-O…” — Zippy the Pinhead

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Gasp! Need something to uplift me! Quick, some Emily….

A thought went up my mind to-dayThat I have had before,But did not finish,–some way back,I could not fix the year,

Nor where it went, nor why it cameThe second time to me,Nor definitely what it was,Have I the art to say.

But somewhere in my soul, I knowI’ve met the thing before;It just reminded me–‘t was all–And came my way no more.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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Y’all should get a clue as to the ultimate nature of what you will find below, from the picture adorning the top of the section; for the moment, I’ll pretend it’s just another elephant in the parlor….

Since today’s old-school pearl came together so easily, forming a nice, rounded description of most of the important points we all need to learn in our lives, yet, managing to maintain a not entirely straight face, I’m going to let it go without even worrying about whether it leads anywhere useful…. It was too much fun putting it together to throw out…. All of the following is good stuff, even if it lost all sense of sobriety at the end…. It fits…

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” — Plato, The Republic. Book II. 377B

“The virtue of all achievement is the victory over oneself. Those who know this can never know defeat.” — A.J. Cronin

“Go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows.” — Rainer Maria Rilke in Letters to a Young Poet

“This life is a test. It is only a test. Had it been an actual life, you would have received further instructions as to what to do and where to go. You may or may not be issued an actual life later.” — Smart Ass Bee

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Having thus completed my Duty in tolerable fashion, I shall take my leave, to go forth into the day, clueless…. See y’all tomorrow, if I can find my way back home today….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richyand everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

“One of these things is not like the other…” — Numerous Sesame Street characters at various times

A few days ago, the opening picture was also one of my own photos, taken outside my back door, here in Northern California, this February, in what the rest of the world considers the dead of winter, almost two-thirds of the way to Spring. The East Coast has been pounded by massive storms; blizzards, hurricanes, all sorts of weather which, though seasonal, keeps breaking old records for the most massive storms in history. Today, as I write this, I’m sitting in my living room, with no heat on, a window and door open for ventilation, without a shirt, because it’s too warm to wear one indoors…. even for an old man who can’t take the cold like he used to….

But, hey, there’s no such thing as global warming, or unalterable climate changes taking place, so, why worry about it? It certainly isn’t snowing here, so, I guess I’ll go for a walk today in the sunshine, to take some more pictures of evidence of the world, trying to warn us of our impending doom….

Oops…. Sorry, ffolkes, I forgot. No ranting in the intro…. But, but, ffolkes, it’s just so bloody tempting! SIGH…. Ah me, so much for this attempt to open up with aplomb, or, even, coherency. Not that I care overmuch about coherency, so long as I can find it in myself to spout some nonsense, but, I’m not sure how I’d do at that today. I’m not feeling very silly; that generally means if I try to be funny, or apply silly to what I write, I end up displaying bozoid tendencies, more so than any wisdom, or style, or any other sort of communication to stimulate the slightest interest, beyond the expected snickering at my discomfiture….

Y’all should remember, though, anyone who can use the word discomfiture isn’t going to let a little thing like propriety, or mainstream morality get in the way of getting this Pearl done. No way. I’ve done this too long now to listen to the ignorant, any more than I ever did, other than to keep track of whatever they are babbling about, just for the purposes of intel…. Remember? “Keep your friends close, etc…..” Beyond the bare minimum necessary to keep them in my sights, I ignore them as much as possible…. It doesn’t mean I don’t know they’re there…. (Not bad… two of the three “there’s”, each used correctly…)

It does mean my paranoia is in good working order, though, so, perhaps it would be best now to get on with the making of today’s mess, so I can get back afterward in time to take the appropriate medication to keep me from going postal on anyone before lunch. Perhaps it would be best if you ducked now….

Shall we Pearl?

“A form of open-mindedness is the pathway to wisdom. Close your mind and you open the way for ignorance to flourish, but you will never even know it.” — Smart Bee

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These two artists are responsible for a LOT of the tunes I grew up with in the 60’s and 70’s. Watching them play together after all these years was a more emotional experience than I’d imagined; I found myself tearing up at song after song. It was also fun to see the two of them having such fun playing together; they were feuding for many years, and it’s nice to know they’ve healed the breach…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is a real treat, a true walk through a gentler past…

Le Penseur, The Thinker, Auguste Rodin, photo from The Rodin Museum web site

Sometime during my teens, I stopped trying to convince myself to give in to the pressure applied by peers, and well-meaning adults, to join the Presbyterian Church, where I’d been attending with my family for some years. I had begun a study of as many different faiths as I could find time to do, without ever getting so far into it as to call myself a religious scholar, discovering in those studies I could not bring myself to be hypocritical enough to claim belief in the credo they espoused. Any of them.

This decision was not because of a lack of spiritual feeling (I wouldn’t have bothered to look for answers, if that were the case), but, more of an acceptance of the rightness of my choice, to NOT pretend to believe what I could only consider a very complex set of dogmatic derivations, having nothing to do with reality, but, in truth, were deductively and erroneously based on specific delusions, regarding forces of nature we humans do not, as yet, fully understand. Ascribing those forces to be the result of supernatural causes seemed a bit specious, if not completely lacking in evidence to support such their existence, thus, highly unlikely.

I suppose I always felt what H. L. Mencken said in the third pearl below; everything I heard about how cool and special God, and religion were supposed to be, all seemed to me to be pretty improbable. Since this improbability was supposedly supported by what I found to be merely interpretations, and opinions of reality, not reality itself, I could never find any good reason to buy into any of it…. In short, I recognized what I heard as a made-up story, designed to soothe people’s fears about a universe they could not comprehend…. I always figured, if we don’t know, well, let’s find out. Why make something up? But, I guess that’s just me…. At the time, I’d never heard of Nancy Reagan, but, I’ve always been glad I “just said no.”

Below are seven pearls which, sort of, speak to how I view the concept of religion, as one of the primary reasons for a large part of the reason Mankind continues to act more like an brutish naked ape than an advanced, ethical sentient entity. The God of the Christians, as is apparently true with most Gods I’ve looked into, acts much like a wounded, maddened predator, insanely attacking all who come near. Almost all of the deities I found in my reading over the years, all had a common cruelty, a mercilessness completely antagonistic to human feeling, which, naturally, mirrors the trait in humans, thus giving divine attribution to our most base emotions…. According to what I read, most gods show the behavior of a spoiled child, a trait unfortunately reproduced in His followers….

HE, Yahweh, or Allah, all same/same, seemed, to me, always ready to use any cruelty or violence to achieve His ends, threatening Hellfire and damnation for the slightest disobedience, while claiming to be merciful. Have you seen some of the stuff God has had his followers do in His name? In today’s world, they all continue to act out their insane bigotry and ignorance…. but, now, there are billions upon billions of followers, of all sorts of vicious butthead gods, and they have shiny new toys to kill each other with, with increasing ferocity and destructiveness…. What a bloody mess….

Nope, God just never has been my kind of dude, for sure, much less what I’d be looking for a in a god…. But, even I could see, back before I had so much rational proof of how wise was my decision, it sure does make life easy for those who hang with God, using his ‘grace’ to either justify their actions, or remove the blame for any of them, as long as the conditions of membership in the club are met….

Ah, well, here, this is what I mean, more glibly, if not more clearly…. Sometimes, that’s how it works with metaphor….

Say first, of God above or man below,

What can we reason but from what we know?

~~ Alexander Pope — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 17 ~~

“Any system of religion which has anything in it which offends the mind of a child cannot be a true system.” — Thomas Paine

“Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.” — H. L. Mencken, “Prejudices”, Series iii

“Preacher to me: “A dollar for the Lord, brother?” Me to preacher: “That’s all right, I’m headed his way. I’ll give it to him when I see him.” — Edward Abbey

“Pray, pray very much; but beware of telling God what you want.” — French Proverb

“If the average man is made in God’s image, then such a man as Beethoven or Aristotle is plainly superior to God.” — H. L. Mencken

“…and remember you’re a Man, not just a god, and for you there aren’t and never will be any easy answers, only questions, and no reasons, only causes, and no meaning, only intelligence, and no destination and no kindly magic smiling down from above, and no fires to goad you from below, only Yourself and the Universe and what you make out of the interface between the two equals.” — Keith Laumer, _Night of Delusions_

Okay, so, it wasn’t all THAT…. Look at it this way. It wasn’t a rant…. Well, not much of one…. After all, I didn’t shout, not once….

Gasps of coherence pound at the door to conscious thought,muffled explosive memories of battles already fought.Malleable as the changeable airs of time and circumstanceplaintive calls to reason stand not a single, honest chance.

Sober again, reality’s cold reign brings a new dayringing in old changes in a new-fashioned way.To know true freedom’s release from our everyday painIs worth a bit of headache, even in the cold, pouring rain.

~~ gigoid ~~

~~ two sheets to the wind, and back ~~

“You will find poetry nowhere, unless you bring some with you.”

~~ Joseph Joubert ~~

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It occurred to me the other day, as I sat to peruse SB for an old-school pearl, my greatest enemy is reality. I’ve fought it successfully for 64 years, now, finally reaching a point where I am relatively certain of the outcome; in short, I’m winning, mostly.

On the heels of such a perfectly egotistical proclamation, allow me to also say, in this case, given much of what history has taught me, a draw may be considered a win, so, don’t think I’m getting too big for my britches. I’m well aware of my bozoid tendencies; in my mind, that makes coming out dead even (so to speak) all the more an admirable, if not impossibly unlikely, outcome, to an what has certainly been an epic ordeal… and, it’s not over yet!

Hence, the following nine-star, sort of fresh pearl, which, you will note, is bookended by Zippy. That ought to give you a clue as to the meaning of the gestalt concept at which SB apparently took aim, with unusual precision; all nine came up one after the other, with only one extra, usable elsewhere… Pretty nifty, I thought…. and, so will you. Enjoy, ffolkes, and try not to hurt yourself falling out of the chair…

“But Aristarchus of Samos brought out a book consisting of certain hypotheses, in which the premises lead to the conclusion that the universe is many times greater than that now so called. His hypotheses are that the fixed stars and the sun remain motionless, that the earth revolves about the sun in the circumference of a circle, the sun lying in the middle of the orbit, and that the sphere of the fixed stars, situated about the same center as the sun, is so great that the circle in which he supposes the earth to revolve bears such a proportion to the distance of the fixed stars as the center of the sphere bears to its surface.” — Archimedes, The Sand-Reckoner, Third Century B.C.

“Humorous or profound remark or quotation pending.” — Smart Bee

“When two goats met on a bridge which was to narrow to allow either to pass or return, the goat which lay down that the other might walk over it was a finer gentleman than Lord Chesterfield.” — Cecil

“All those things which are now held to be of the greatest antiquity, were at one time new; and what we today hold up by example, will rank hereafter as precedent.” — Tacitus

“Life is full of surprises when you’re up th’ stream of consciousness without a paddle…” — Zippy the Pinhead

See what I meant? Okay, I’ve been cruel long enough. You may go now….

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Fortunately for me, most of this Pearl was already constructed, in pieces, which I only had to piece together today to get this done. I’m glad because I’m just not in the best of spaces, for unknown reasons…. I think I’ll take today off from dealing with anything at all complicated…. nothing more complex than, oh, say, planning my next nap…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can work up the energy….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richyand everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Boy! Deng Ming sure can be harsh sometimes, eh? I usually enjoy his take on Taoist philosophy in the modern world, but, some of his quotes seem to have suffered in the translation, whether he performed it, or someone else. This one just seems to be a bit more of a “written in stone” sort of approach to a concept which seems to me to call for more flexibility, more fluidity, as does any idea used to express some part of the Tao in a way that helps others understand.

Oh, well. I suppose they can’t ALL be great aphorisms. Much like the picture today, one of my own, taken while waiting for a bus. I’m not sure whether the light patches are normal, due to light reflecting off morning mist, or, just another indication my camera is going to die soon. It’s given me other clues to warn me I’ll soon need a new one, if I wish to continue to take pictures to share. These days, that isn’t such a budget breaker as it formerly was; a good digital camera today will go on sale for under $200, with all the features an amateur such as myself can use…. I already have a tripod, and a USB cable which is industry standard, so, all I need is the camera….

Now, the trick is to find one on sale for the best price… Oh, right. Duh. Like a friend keeps pounding into my recalcitrant memory, AMAZON. Or, some other online store selling at discount prices, like E-Bay, and the ilk. Okay. I guess now I’ll have to actually do it, or suffer the embarrassment of having somebody bring it up a week from now, asking me where all the new pictures are? Oh, joy.

Now I get to go shop. Even shopping online, the whole process exhausts me; there are just too many choices, and not enough time to see them all. Since I always have a good idea of what I want, and what I want to pay, I tend to go for the first example I run across around that price, snapping it up like somebody else was going to steal it from me…. which, these days, means I probably missed a deal somewhere else for half price, of which I’ll be notified by a rapid inundation of email notices, all with free shipping, a week after getting the one I bought, at double the price, and full shipping…..

SIGH…. Now do you see why I am in the habit of saying, in full agreement with Arthur C. Clarke, there is no concrete evidence available to prove intelligence has any value as a survival tool? Even though I possess all the tools and knowledge to obtain a new camera in short order, at a good price, my own bozoid nature prevents me from utilizing those tools, or knowledge, to their best effect. At the point in time when I have the right amount of money available, I forget to go to one of the sites where I can get what I need; as soon as the money is used elsewhere, an email arrives with a good deal, or I see a picture I like, reminding me of the shortcomings of the deal I made in haste…

Ah well, at least it got me through another intro section, without having to actually strain so hard, my forehead bleeds. I hate when that happens; it runs all over my mustache. Blood is hard to clean from hair without yanking on it. Not that I’m a wimp, or anything like that, but, hey, yank on YOUR upper lip a few times, & see how YOU like it, eh?

So, do I sound Canadian? I’m thinking of visiting…. It’s getting to be the right time of year, for us warm-weather birds; I hear the spring, summer, and fall is nice up there, as long as one stays within a few hundred miles of the US border. Beyond there, it’s anybody’s ballgame when it comes to weather and cold. I’m a California boy, born and bred, (well, actually, I never asked, but, I think I’d have heard if the family was out of state a certain number of months before I was born…. but, to be honest, that part I can’t swear to…. I WAS born here, for sure, if my birth certificate is telling the truth….), in my world, cold, for long periods, or with accompanying semi-frozen water, is NOT my friend, nor anyone I enjoy spending time with…. at all.

Okay. I think eight full paragraphs of not a damn thing worth writing home about is enough for one day…. I’m outta here, before I find something else to babble about….

Shall we Pearl?

“. . is to attempt seeing Truth without knowing Falsehood. It is the attempt to see the Light without knowing Darkness. It cannot be.” — Frank Herbert, Dune

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This lady has been one of my favorite comediennes since I first saw her, probably on Ed Sullivan, sometime in the 60’s. (Yes, some of us were there, and still remember it!) She’s fearless…. If you can’t find a smile watching her perform, I’m sorry, but, you are one of the seriously humor-impaired…. Enjoy, ffolkes, there’s nobody like Lily Tomlin….

Day before yesterday’s Pearl had the customary three suggested Pearls at the bottom of the page; I sometimes read them to look for appropriate pieces for those times I’m not up to ranting, as much of what I rant about are ongoing issues, still relevant in today’s world. This is one of them, from about a year ago… Since I am not particularly up for ranting today, I offer this in lieu of anything fresh, as a worthy substitute… I mean, after all, I AM the one making the judgment, right? S’okay, it’s allowed, it’s my blog…. I hope you enjoy it, depressing as it may be for those who continue to hold out hope the world will make any necessary changes, in time to save our sorry butts…

From 2/25/2014; Introduction section:

Terrible things could happen now…. they could, you know. And, we’ll deserve every second we experience of mind-numbing, soul-chilling, petrifying terror, because, hey, we’re the ones who left the door wide open, inviting it to enter our domain, bringing with it our ultimate doom…. Yes, it’s our own damn fault, and we will know the truth of the matter, because we have been warned, having previously been given wisdom such as this….

This is not new wisdom, that we’ve never before seen or suspected; history has provided us with innumerable instances proving the truth of this aphorism….. Time after time throughout our short span of existence on this world, we find examples of men or women who had prior knowledge of an issue, and, by their silence, allowed it to take place, to the detriment of all…. It doesn’t make it right, but, it is certainly not an uncommon issue for mankind…. Such issues are not, perhaps, of all those we are given by Reality, our favorite gifts, …. In fact, many don’t look on this, or any knowledge, as gifts, at all; THAT is a big part of the entire problem….

Our problem is a failure of spirit, one which has to do with a basic virtue, one that has been claimed as the basis for all other virtues; without this characteristic, none of our finer qualities are ever seen in the light of day…. That pillar upon which all other virtue rests, then, is Courage…. Yes, plain and simple, courage….

I have found, in my fairly long life, most of mankind, I’m afraid, are cowards…. I’m not an exception, though it IS something I’ve tried hard to mitigate…. Fear is a hard thing for most of us to admit, even though it isn’t considered abnormal; it’s strength, and the way it causes us to lose control frightens us… However, that power is also its saving grace; the guilt one feels, for having given in to fear, stimulates us to greater effort, whereupon we find that courage within ourselves, the next time we are in danger of giving in…. This is how almost everything we do, of an ethical nature, ever gets done…. because someone discovers they DO have the courage to act when there is danger to themselves, or to those for whom they care…..

That is what it takes, you see…. No virtuous act can ever take place, unless good people have the courage to act in the face of the Evil that exists, in spite of the fear they feel in the presence of that Evil. If they don’t summon, or find somewhere with themselves, the courage to act ethically, or morally, then, Evil has free rein to let itself out to play in human affairs, to the detriment of us all….

Each of us has to find our own courage, often deep within ourselves; the courage to put aside our fear, to carry on with what we know to be right, even though expediency and comfort are left behind in…. Living with honor and integrity is never the easiest path we can take; it is always fraught with danger, simply because it doesn’t avoid evil, claiming it’s too hard, but, rather, confronts it, endeavoring to deal with it in a straightforward, upright fashion…. thus, preserving one’s own honor, when one is forced to have truck with what always leaves us feeling a bit dirty….

All I have written above is true and complete, to the best of my knowledge. It constitutes a fairly accurate assessment of today’s situation here on planet Earth, as I perceive it…. Evil is out there, ffolkes; if we… that’s you, and I…. fail to stand up to it, look it in the eye, and tell it to “fuck off, you bloody sod!”, it will continue to manifest its existence, at will, causing untold pain and suffering for us all…. So, be brave, ffolkes…. Don’t let Evil have its way, without at least a token resistance, ‘kay?…. “Kay!…..

“Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, “To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws.”” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi

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Ah well, what’s a Bozo to do, but, pull up his pants, pull down his shades, and smile, smile, smile? Why, he should use an old sort-of-love poem, only a day late for Valentine’s Day…. Well, that or bend over & kiss his own butt, which, at his age, is anatomically impossible…. thank goodness. Just read the poem, ffolkes, & don’t make me talk any more, okay? I’m losing it, fast…. But, I do hope you like the poem….

Time, and again….

Life, and/or love, will seldom fitinto any box we keep for them to sit.Loose and limber, without any reason,always somewhat out of season.

Surprise, surprise, they seem to say,we can’t help it, it’s just our way.If only you would learn, instead of know,maybe you’d find yourself with one to show.

Deal, just the way it is, now and here,follow the path, on the other side of fear.Finding the future isn’t all blood, sweat, and pain,far, far more than mere joy we stand to gain.

The sages all say not to try, just do,sounds as simple as putting on a shoe.I’d say we could really go places,if we could but learn, to tie up the laces….

~~ gigoid ~~

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Below you will find a quite nice pearl, of the standard variety, stretched into a nine-star configuration…. Smart Bee has continued to perform its duty with excellent dedication, so, there is no lack of good stuff to include…. You might wish to take notes on this pearl; ALL of these little gems could conceivably be on the Final Quiz we all must take one day…. If not, they’ll be of good use getting you by, in Life, until it’s time to sharpen your pencils….

“Well begun is half done.” — Aristotle

“Many things do not happen as they ought. Most things do not happen at all.” — Smart Bee

“The universe is not indifferent to intelligence, it is actively hostile to it. Death is a commingling of eternity with time; in the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through time.” — Goethe

“All stressed out, and no one to choke.” — gigoid, the dubious, via Smart Bee

“The world is not to be put in order, the world is order incarnate. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order.” — Henry Miller

“I am only a rat in a maze, like you — only the dead go free.” — Smart Bee

“Death the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening.” — Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

“What I like is when you’re looking and thinking and looking and thinking… and suddenly you wake up.” — Hobbes

See? Pretty good, eh? I keep telling you; it’s all in the wrist….

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I’m not entirely sure what may have taken place here today. I’ve been up for over two hours, having somehow regressed into a strong episode of tardive dyskinesia, which I had hoped to be done with until the next med cut…. An hour in a chair, trembling oneself awake every few minutes, jumpy as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs is NOT fun, let me assure you…. Fortunately, I’d done a lot of this yesterday, so, it went smoothly enough; I’m merely unsure of how my brain is functioning. I can’t seem to feel it….

Oh, well. More proof we don’t really need our brains to get by, I guess. For now, I think I’ll just toss in the towel, and try to go back to bed, once the sun comes up…. Hmm… that’s completely ass backwards, isn’t it?…. Fuck it…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can’t talk myself out of it….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richyand everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

When Hunter S. Thompson’s most famous quote adorns the opening, you know it’s going to be a day in the trenches…. so be it…. We’ll open with a bit of legerdemain, then go on to find some sort of reason to continue, whether we wish it, or not…. Here, let’s go the obvious route, shall we?….

Isn’t that a great face? I sure wish I knew what the little bear is looking at; whatever it is, he’s not sure he wants to know about it at all…. Well, that, or, he’s in a psycho-cub state, much akin to the one cats display at times, usually at 3 AM, by running around the house at full speed, knocking into walls and jumping off furniture from great heights, just because…. The picture, btw, is of one of the three triplet panda cubs born in China a couple of months ago, a very rare occurrence, especially to pandas in captivity…. They’ve been the subject of close scrutiny by the entire world, as most such sets of triplets have not survived long…. This one looks spunky enough to make it, for sure….

He sure looks spunkier than I’m feeling, but, nothing new there…. The only new item I see today is the new deep ache in my left arm, between the elbow and shoulder; sleeping appears to have annoyed it somehow…. Oh, joy…. It must be time for a ritual slathering of the magic cream…. I’ll take a few minutes to go take care of that, & maybe when I come back to this, I’ll have a bit of inspiration at hand…. Hope springs eternal….

Well…. all I can say is, that stuff is magic…. Sadly, it doesn’t come with inspiration included, and the clock is still ticking…. I suppose I could do some nonsense… Let’s see… Nope…. Nothing resembling that anywhere in there…. How ’bout a quick rant? No, too early, and, no angst currently available, unless we count that which hangs about with the pain…. The poem I’ve been cultivating somewhere in the back of my mind isn’t ripe yet, either; I can tell by the craw stuck in my throat…. Damn! I bet y’all know what THIS means, don’t you?

Yep. It’s another failure of imagination, classically displayed right out here where all may see…. Chalk it up to my Bozoid Tendencies, and we’ll call it an intro… We have to at this point…. we’ve already used up any other alternative methods, so, ruthless dumping is all we have left to get us out of this mess, which my blathering has landed us in, again…. Some day, I’ll find an intro, but, by then, I won’t know what to do with it anyway…. SIGH….. It’s a good thing for all of us I used Hunter S. Thompson to bracket the intro; with such brutal honesty at play, nothing can harm us on our way to immortality, or a reasonable facsimile….

Huh?…. Ah, fuck it, let’s be on our way…. Coherency is a lost cause, at this point….

Shall we Pearl?

“The time has come to kick ass.” — Hunter S. Thompson

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Time is a function of human perception; in reality, all there is, is NOW. We have no control over the past, and the future is only under control according to what we choose to do NOW…. Right NOW, I am not sure this will ever get posted….

Early morning ambivalence is the order of the day, apparently; combined with the dysfunctional body with which I am now saddled, there is some doubt as to future events ever taking place according to my wishes…. SIGH… Oh well, for the nonce, we’ll pretend we do have some sort of choice, and pick out a video…. How ’bout some Blues?….

Yep, you guessed it…. another rant from the archives…. If you are a regular, you’ve seen this before. If not, have no fear, it’s a good read…. well, I think so, anyway….

From 4/9/2013:

Here’s the deal…. I still don’t have a rant ready, but I feel like ranting…. so, I’ll sublimate…. This is an article that I posted on Triond, another web site where I’ve published some of my work, in the latter part of 2012, near the election that took place in November….. All of it is still pretty valid, discounting the date-related issues…. all the rest, I stand by…..

Absence of Honor: The Untimely Death of The US Constitution

“Ignorance can be compounded, made denser, until the light of our spirits is smothered.” — Deng Ming-Dao

As I read this pearl, my immediate thought was that it is a very clear, very accurate take on the 2012 election process that is currently unfolding before us in the daily news. The end of the political scale that is represented so raggedly by what is left of the Republican Party, and the mislabeled liberal end of the scale who claim to be Democrats, are both engaging in ongoing battles to see who can display the deepest ignorance.

The leading candidate for the “loyal opposition” to the party in power, Mr. Romney, seems to have a proclivity for alienating the very people from whom he is trying to win votes; women, immigrants and Hispanics, animal lovers, seniors, teachers and students, all have been told, in no uncertain terms, that they matter not at all to him. His plan? We’ll stop taxing the rich altogether, and that will fix everything…. Sometimes I wonder if he is getting all of his information on voter wants and issues of importance from old newspapers from the 1980’s, because he certainly hasn’t a clue as to what is happening out in America in this decade….

The other party, led by our first Black President, is busy hiding what the left hand is doing by distracting everyone with the tax and healthcare issues, to keep them unaware of how few of the Bill of Rights are left to us. “Executive Orders” signed by the POTUS this year, beginning on New Year’s Eve, while the voters were all busy celebrating the advent of the new year, include provisions that allow police to stop, search, and arrest any citizen of this country whom they suspect of any form of terrorism, or even of protest against the provisions of those orders.

These same police who are arresting their ostensible fellow-citizens are not required to tell ANYONE that they have arrested and imprisoned a citizen, nor are they ever required to provide any evidence of their suspicions in a court of law. Even though there may be no evidence, they can subject these CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY to torture to obtain a confession, or whatever it is they are after. There is no oversight to these orders; they don’t go before Congress to be approved, nor are they reviewed by the courts. Both of those particular checks on the power of the Executive Branch are completely out of the loop on this…. and they aren’t even complaining about it!

Does it physically hurt to be that stupid? — Smart Bee

My guess at the answer to this is, No. It can’t hurt very much to be that stupid, as we continue to go out each time there is an election and vote these same lying, cheating, avaricious assholes back into the same positions from which they have been oppressing the American people for oh, a hundred or so years now. I’d say that around the time of the Depression was when the first real strangle-hold on the national throat was first achieved…. the pure bullshit the government was spewing back then can be seen to have been the first real time that the government’s outrageous lies were swallowed whole by a reluctant public, who had nothing else to eat, and thus nothing else to risk…

“He was born stupid, and greatly increased his birthright.” — Samuel Butler

So, how does it feel? Does it physically hurt to be so stupid, as to be part of the crowd that continues to buy into all the bullshit lies that our own government heaps upon us every day? To keep going to the polls, just as if it really matters who gets elected? Get real, folks. You will not find a name on the ballot that belongs to someone who is not a willing tool of the powers of oppression, the money-changers who are the power behind the scenes of every government in the world. Not going to happen; they’ve been the real power in the world for centuries, and they’re not about to give up all they have, just to be nice, or because they’ve, all of a sudden, grown a heart.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty fucking tired of being lied to, and cheated, and looked at as just another idiot for them to shit on….. and I’m not going to put up with it for much longer, without some kind of return fire….. Believe it…. I don’t think I am alone in this, either…. No way to tell for sure, but I find it hard to believe that EVERYONE is falling for all of it…. but, even if I’m alone in this, I refuse to knuckle under any further, and can only say that I will do all I can to see things turn in a direction that will return my Rights, and those of the rest of the American people…. or at least those not stupid enough to hand them over without a fight….

“He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Since I’ve shamelessly raided the archives already, here is another of mine, just because…

Savory

Blown across steppes of imagination, a spore finds a niche, takes root,tries to live longer than now, before chaos/peace descends, and desire is moot.

Feathered into fecundity, another possibility builds a nest, hatches kin,aims at immortality, sans responsibility, chance manifests, as it does, again.

Leading toward peril, entropy saves creativity, making tools, and lazy time;solid signs imply such simple nativity, as another snitch drops his dime.

Years weigh lightly, supported by youth, gaining weight with each year,only the old men know the actual truth, peace comes only when we lose our fear.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Smart Bee seems to be on strike, so, we’ll have to go with an old-school pearl from the archives today…. Here’s a pretty good one, from 2013….

From 4/4/2013:

Well, it seems clear that my fresh material isn’t up to snuff today…. it seems so to me, anyway, and I’m the one who has to stomach it first….. Which means I’m going into the past yet again, but with fresh material…. This will be a random chosen old-school Pearl, the best I can do on short notice…… The point may or may not be apparent, but, what else is new?….

“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave…” — Ernest Hemingway, “A Farewell to Arms”

“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.” — William Arthur Ward

“In a mad world, only the mad are sane.” — Akiro Kurosawa

“A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Man’s many desires are like the small metal coins he carries about in his pocket. The more he has the more they weigh him down.” — Satya Sai Baba

“Whoever has even once become notorious by base fraud, even if he speaks the truth, gains no belief.” — Phaedrus (c. 8 A.D.) — Book i, Fable 10, 1

I feel like one Who treads aloneSome banquet-hall deserted, Whose lights are fled, Whose garlands dead,And all but he departed.

Bah! Humbug!…. There, y’all don’t have to say it; I said it for you…. and, I don’t blame you, either…. But, in spite of how any of us may feel about it, it’s done, and I’m not going to look a gift horse, etc….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. maybe, maybe not….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Today’s picture was found via my news reader, RSS Owl; it was originally the Astronomy Picture of the Day on the NASA website, a day or so before Halloween. On the NASA site where it is located, links are available to point out the Halloween-oriented objects in the sky, such as the Ghost Nebula, the Skeleton Nebula, etc…. It’s pretty cool, but, not as cool as the picture itself, showing the Devil’s Tower (from the movie re: first contact, Close Encounters of the Third Kind…), with the entire Milky Way spreading across the sky above…. Simply gorgeous, and inspiring to one who has always believed the stars to be our destiny….

At this point, usually, I’d make some comment about how we humans are denying ourselves our own destiny, by the acts we allow the predators among us to pursue in their mad quest for power over everyone else…. Today, however, I’m going to ignore the impulse to rant that I display so often, and get on with this Pearl, difficult though it is to bite my lip, or in this case, allow my hands to stop typing…. I even have the built-in excuse of pain to justify such a procedure, as it is still raining here in NorCal…. Hell, just getting these few paragraphs done will be an ordeal; I’m already just about ready to quit, or to take a break to spray on some magic rub…. good idea….

Ah, much better…. The problem now becomes obvious; where do I go from here? Oh, wait, there’s an idea…. Hold on while I try to pin it down long enough to see what it is….. Nope, that won’t do; it’s too specific; we need something a bit more general to play with…. How about…. no, that won’t work, either; too obvious…. Well, shoot, this is embarrassing, isn’t it? I feel like a computer with a loop of 404 messages, for sure. Hmm…. I know, I’ll cheat, just as if I were an elected official…

Hah! Fooled ya! No cheating going on here, boss. We don’t do cheating here; hell, I wouldn’t know where to begin, having not indulged in it in a very long time… Well, there was that time at Kaiser, but, they pissed me off, and deserved what they got…. I suppose it wouldn’t be too hard to find a way to do so, but, I just noticed we are far enough down the page to legally end this…. which, as may be surmised, comes at a perfect time, right before we gave up entirely, and slipped into our old standby, nonsense and blather….

This intro section, I would guess, is also an example of blather, but, relatively well disguised as an intelligent discussion of current events here on ECR…. What? Oh, I guess it isn’t so well disguised, is it? Oh, well…. The hell with it, I’m outta here…. See y’all down below, ffolkes, I’m done with this….

Shall we Pearl?

“Honor is the reward of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

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“Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?” — Friedrich Nietzsche

I may be pulling my covers, but, I love these cat videos…. I can watch cats for a long time without becoming tired of it; they have more personality than most humans I’ve met, for sure…. Plus, this allows anyone who is jonesing for some quality laughter to indulge themselves fully…. Anyone who doesn’t at least smile or chuckle at the first video, shows proof they have NO sense of humor at all…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. and try not to waste the ENTIRE day on this….

“What comes from this quarter, set it down as so much gain.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Adelphoe, Act v, Sc. 3, 30, (816.)

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Once more, I’m resorting to the archives, since I can’t type worth shit today…. It ain’t Sartre, or Ibsen, but it ain’t bad….

From 2/20/2013:

“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” — Mark Twain

As I sit here, I can almost feel myself getting older…. It seems to be a predilection of being this age, that one becomes somewhat introspective, looking back over our time here on Earth, and making judgments about what we’ve done, or are guilty of leaving undone, in our lives. This preoccupation seems to be innate, but, I don’t necessarily see a lot of it in others my age, in my experiences out in society at large.

Here, on WordPress, the normal demographics of population diversity seems to run a bit higher, in that respect, than it does out in the Big Blue Room…. probably something to do with the fact that those here on this site are, if nothing else, highly educated enough, and/or affluent enough, to partake in the Internet’s community dialogue…. Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that there are still millions of folks out there who have never, and never will, see any of what transpires here, for whatever reason, educational, financial, or merely indifference…. In that group of people, those my age are concerned much of the time with survival, and tend to be directed outward, to deal with the mechanics of that critical issue.

To that group, introspection is a luxury they cannot afford to indulge in themselves, as it takes time away from activities and mental attitudes necessary for surviving. I have been living on the edge of that group for a couple of years now, and can only be thankful that I am close enough to the edge to be able to afford this luxury; I do have to make sacrifices to have it, so I appreciate it a lot. It was a pain in the derrière, literally, to have to leave home to find internet access, so, not having to do so is a big plus for me.

In my time of introspection, I’ve spent a lot of it fighting off guilt, for the things I’ve done in my life that don’t meet with my own approval, as so aptly referred to by Mr. Twain. We all have those things hidden in our memories, those failures of ethical or moral standards we set for ourselves, and looking back on them is hard, as there is nothing we can do to change it. We have to learn to forgive ourselves for such transgressions, because no one else, not even God, if ones choose to believe in the traditional dogma, can change the past. (Query: Can God build a wall so strong He can’t knock it down, or a rock so heavy He can’t pick it up?…. Just wondered; sorry, little side trip….)

Since we cannot change the past, nor go back and try to make things better, if nothing else, we must learn to hold those little kernels of painful memory inside us, and find a way to deal with the little nugget of discomfort that will always accompany such memories. It is a delicate procedure, as we must deal with chastising and scolding our own selves, while still maintaining our self-love, without which we can never be comfortable, or comforted. One cannot accept love from another unless they feel it is deserved; it will sour and spoil all the flavor of the interaction, dooming it to failure, and pain.

How do we maintain this self-image of someone who is worthy of being loved by others? Well, that, my friends, is a very long story, indeed, and one I’m not going to start here and now, as it could be days before I surfaced again, and we’re already at the point where most folk’s minds, as well as those of regular ffolkes, will be losing interest, unless I pull some literary magic, or set off some figurative fireworks. Currently, my supply of fireworks is low, so we’ll leave a deeper discussion of this subject for another time. For now, let me say this….

We are all creatures of a Universe that puts a premium on flexibility, especially of mind. This flexibility is enhanced when we spend time on ourselves, in introspection, and inner dialogue, and is ultimately part of what is the only way to ever really achieve any balance or stability in life. It gives us the proper perspective on how we fit into the rest of the picture, and points the way to the greatest degree of successful interaction with the other parts of that universe. It is the best way to stay in touch with what we are, and what we need to be, to survive, and to make our lives meaningful in some way.

“We are injured and hurt emotionally – not so much by other people or what they say or don’t say – but by our own attitude and our own response.” — Maxwell Maltz, “Psycho-Cybernetics”

Well worth a dollar, or a moment or two of your time, I’d say…. Try something new and different, spend some time in your own head…. Of course, one should (careful, there’s that word!….) be cautious in this, as with any potentially mind-altering activity like mindful introspection…. You never know when a preconceived notion will jump up and bite you….. and those ingrained prejudices can be hard to spot, as they tend to hide behind walls of ignorance and fear….. Remember yesterday’s pearl…. The Snark might actually be a Boojum…. Catch it, cook it, eat it with some fava beans and a nice Chianti, and then get on with your life….

:-)

Note from 2014: To end such a discussion properly, a pearl of appropriate measure should be included, to wit:

“Has the world always been like this, or have I been too wrapped up in myself to notice?” — The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

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Here is a three-fer of my own works; don’t worry, they’re all short, and to the point….

Tiny Truth, Just in Time

I’ll leave history to say if it’s a crime, as it will always do…. Who may challenge the prerogative of Time?…. Nobody, that’s who….

~~ gigoid ~~

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Striking Gold

Madness comes and goes, it’s true,whenever it chooses to do so.Living’s much like wearing a shoe,when all you are is a toe.~~ gigoid ~~

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Territorial imperative….

Beauty must define, as augment to existence, as life must be more than mere subsistence.Nature demands more.Truth helps.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Today’s final pearl came together in spurts yesterday, with only the last two entries found, at last, this morning…. It’s getting hard to put this together, ffolkes, having to come back to it so often, due to necessary breaks in the action to go somewhere to moan piteously…. Ah well, it came out well, for all that, as a group of pearls to provide us with some of the better ideas we humans have stumbled across in our search for wisdom…. It’s a seven-star pearl, with a final, extra pearl to help point the way to the point…. All the great advice in the pearl can be absorbed by observing the truth in the last line….

“How did the great rivers and seas gain dominion over the hundred lesser streams? By being lower than they.” — Lao Tzu

“Doing it the hard way is always easier.”– Murphy’s Paradox

“When washing your face, can you see your true self? When walking, can you feel the rotation of heaven? When speaking are your words without guile? When you shop are you aware of your needs? When you meet the suffering, do you help? When you meet conflict, do you work toward harmony?” — Deng Ming-Dao

“Beware of the “Black Swan” fallacy. Deductive logic is tautological; there is no way to get a new truth out of it, and it manipulates false statements as readily as true ones. If you fail to remember this, it can trip you – with perfect logic. The designers of the earliest computers called this the “Gigo Law”, i.e. “garbage in, garbage out”. Inductive logic is MUCH more difficult – but can produce new truths.” — Lazarus Long

“The best plan is, as the common proverb has it, to profit by the folly of others.” — Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) — Natural History, Book xviii, Sect. 31

“The supreme triumph of reason is to cast doubt upon its own validity:” — Miguel de Unamuno

“Give, expecting nothing thereof” — St. Thomas Aquinas

Remember, ffolkes, all the above starts with this:

“Doubt is the key to knowledge.” — Persian Proverb

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“It was a big one, Pa, but, I beat it!”

Well, that’s the way it feels, anyway…. All in all, it’s not too shabby; it’s definitely done, which makes it perfect for our purposes…. Funny how that works, isn’t it? See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

This is a picture of the work space where Pearls of Virtual Wisdom are composed; my virtual oyster bed, so to speak…. I hope the picture was taken from enough distance, to keep from giving away too much personal information, of the sort that I have not already related at one point or another…. I do try to be discreet, to some extent, as to where I am, physically, though, for anyone with any real geek in them, it wouldn’t be difficult to run down more exact info than is apparent in this, I’m sure….

Hell, information on anybody is so ubiquitous on the internet, I no longer use Google to find information about friends, just because it tends to show TOO MUCH info… If I do, then I’d have to tell them what’s there, so they can cork their leaks, and deal with all that, so, it’s just better to leave sleeping dogs lie, in that respect…. So, I know it wouldn’t be too hard to find me, but, from the picture, I don’t think anyone can find anything to either pinpoint, or to litigate…. especially our friends over at the NSA, FBI, and/or anyone else who might be mining the data the NSA gets from Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc…. so, it makes for a good opener, yes? I think so…. If nothing else, it needs no attribution, so, bonus….

As for the poets and cheese, I don’t believe Mr. Chesterton actually cared about that; cheese has very few of the qualities upon which a good poem might expostulate. No feelings, no special place in human affairs, no compelling features to extol… boring…. But, he’s right, also, in that one would think that everything had been given at least one poetic glance, if only as a peripheral mention in a poem about something else entirely….. But, I can’t think of a single poem where cheese plays a significant part, can you?…..

Well, maybe it’s not such a big deal, anyway…. It did, however, provide us with just about enough blather to get us down the page far enough to call this legal… It will be close, but, I think, since it’s Saturday, all the monitoring agencies are closed, with nobody on duty to tell us otherwise, so, I’m pretty sure we can slide by on a technicality…. If not, we’ll just run for it, okay? So, don’t change out of your sneakers, just in case we need to book on short notice….

I know, I know, cheap…. but, also, done, so, deal with it…

Shall we Pearl?….

“You will know unexpected happiness. You will know the sorrow of seeing what is dearest to you cut down before your eyes. Accept that. That is the nature of human existence, and you have no time to buffer this fact with fairy tales and illogical explanations.” — Deng Ming-Dao

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“Whatever power you give to the good cops, goes to the bad ones, too. Never forget that.” — Phillip J. Birmingham

I feel like ranting, but, there is so much material to choose from, I can’t seem to pick one…. I could talk about the NSA, and the latest developments on the illegal spying front…. I could talk about police militarization… I could talk about the prisoners of war our leaders are holding captive without charges, force feeding, and torturing for information…. I could talk about the latest police shooting of an innocent citizen…. All of those have a headline and/or articles in the news over the last couple of days….

But, I’m tired of ranting about all that, and never seeing any changes take place; sometimes, it seems as if nobody listens…. But, then I see other blogs with the same issues being addressed, with the same results…. The fact is, ffolkes, the government of this country no longer cares at all what the public may think, or want; they are going to carry out their agenda regardless of anything the American public thinks about it…

They will continue to wage wars without public or Congressional sanction; they will continue to torture and abuse prisoners captured during our illegal wars. They will continue to arm the police forces of this country, preparing for an armed revolt, which they seem to be deliberately provoking by their actions….

Below you’ll find some links, to articles discussing these, and other issues, none of which are related to the ONE issue we NEED to address, to wit, the imminent, catastrophic environmental crisis that is rapidly coming to a head on our planet, caused by the deliberate ignorance, and stubborn denial of those who control all the physical resources…. This issue is the only one that is going to make any difference to us, very soon…. There won’t be any time at all to worry about all the other BS going on, because we will HAVE to focus on just staying alive….

I may be a grump, and a curmudgeon, but, I am not blind, and I can see clearly how things are going, and how they’ll continue to progress…. and, it ain’t pretty…. Ah well, here are some links to highlight some of the problems we are facing, followed by a short pearl to drive home the thoughts presented today…. I hope….

[A photo is displayed of Senator Dan Quayle holding a pumpkin to the left of his head.] “Here’s an Update Quiz: what’s the difference between these two spherical objects? The answer is: eventually, the one on the left will have a light in it.”– Dennis Miller, SNL Weekend Update

“Faith: not wanting to know what is true.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Senate, n.: A body of elderly gentlemen charged with high duties and misdemeanors. — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

“People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who haven’t what they want that they really don’t want it.” — Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

To each his suff’rings; all are men, Condemn’d alike to groan,–The tender for another’s pain, Th’ unfeeling for his own.Yet ah! why should they know their fate,Since sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too swiftly flies? Thought would destroy their paradise.No more; where ignorance is bliss, ‘T is folly to be wise.

~~ Thomas Gray ~~

— On a Distant Prospect of Eton College, Stanza 10 –

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Today’s video selection is a blast from the past; some of these are even before MY time…. though, it’s true, my older sister and brother listened to all of these on the radio, back in the 50’s…. Easy listening, to be sure…. Enjoy!….

having the low down blues and goinginto a restaurant to eat.you sit at a table.the waitress smiles at you.she’s dumpy. her ass is too big.she radiates kindness and sympathy.live with her 3 months and a man would know real agony.o.k., you’ll tip her 15 percent.you order a turkey sandwich and abeer.the man at the table across from youhas watery blue eyes anda head like an elephant.at a table further down are 3 menwith very tiny headsand long neckslike ostriches.they talk loudly of land development.why, you think, did I ever comein here when I have the low-downblues?then the the waitress comes back with the sandwichand she asks you if there will be anything else?and you tell her, no no, this will befine.then somebody behind you laughs.it’s a cork laugh filled with sand andbroken glass.

you begin eating the sandwich.

it’s something.it’s a minor, difficult,sensible actionlike composing a popular songto make a 14-year oldweep.you order another beer.jesus, look at that guyhis hands hang down almost to his knees and he’swhistling.well, time to get out.pick up the bill.tip.go to the register.pay.pick up a toothpick.go out the door.your car is still there.and there are 3 men with headsand neckslike ostriches all getting into onecar.they each have a toothpick and nowthey are talking about women.they drive away firstthey drive away fast.they’re best i guess.it’s an unbearably hot day.there’s a first-stage smog alert.all the birds and plants are deador dying.

you start the engine.

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

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This pearl was pre-packaged for your, and, more specifically, my convenience today…. Not that there is any real need to use the provided convenience; but, what the hell? It’s here, and it’s done, so, hey, why not? It isn’t bad, for a throw-together-in-a-few-minutes kind of deal; It takes some pretty hefty shots at the beloved ruling class, if no one else… It’s also a bit depressing, beginning and end, but, hey, life is tough…. Buck up…. Do you see, or hear, Wolverine complaining? Nope, so, whatever YOU are worried about, get real…. and toughen up…. You can’t win if you don’t fight…

“Cogito, ergo doleo. I think, therefore I am depressed.” — Smart Bee

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” — Marcus Aurelius

“Let honor be as strong to us an obligation as necessity is to others.” — Pliny the Elder

“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.” — Voltaire

“Taxation is theft; Conscription is slavery; War is murder.” — Smart Bee

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” — Plato

“Life must go on; I forget just why.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, ‘Lament’, Second April (1921)

See? Get a grip, ffolkes, ’cause it’s probably not going to get much better, without some sort of diaspora to the outer solar system…. Soon, too, or it won’t matter any longer….

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I am completely baffled as to how this came out as well as it did; the entire time I felt as if I were pushing my way through a field of brambles… and, now I’m done, it feels just as if I were bloodied and scarred from traversing the gauntlet of thorns…. Ah well, in all the words you see in that sentence, only one matters…. “done.” See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Tidal windstorm Splits trees and rock, Yet cannot last a day. So much less, man’s work.

— Deng Ming-Dao

Have you seen this photo? By now, it’s all over the web…. I found it in the Week In Pictures feature, London Daily Telegraph, for the week of 8/29/2014. Taken by one Kristjan Madalvee; he shot this at the port of Vergi, one hour from his home in Talinn, the capital of Estonia….. Where the fuck is Estonia? Brilliant fucking shot, regardless of where it is…. So good, it almost, almost, puts the lie to the quote above it, from the Taoist master, Sifu Deng…. If naught else, the photo shows that we, as humans, with a sense of wonder and beauty, can appreciate that which we cannot fully comprehend, or emulate by the power of our will…

Sounds pretty highfalutin, doesn’t it? Even more amazing, that word, “highfalutin” IS IN MY SPELL CHECKER DICTIONARY! Wow…. I’ll have to use more words from the period and genre it came from…. not bad….. Any who, it’s a bit early, anyway, to start with such a deep, potentially controversial subject, so, we’ll just wander somewhere else in my head, to find a bit more amenable, or, at least, more malleable idea to play with for now….

Hmm…. this looks like an interesting corridor; let’s see what’s down here… Oh, my…. look at that. Over there, against the wall…. Do you see it? Aw, isn’t it cute? It’s a little haiku, missing the last two syllables, just waiting for us to find, so it can fulfill its destiny…. We’ll send it down to section two, where it can go on public display, once I finish it off…. Well, that was nice, eh? I don’t often get so lucky when looking for poems; usually they create such a turmoil inside me, it’s a vicious battle, with lots of attendant blood loss, to get them all the way out of my head…. so, this was a rather more pleasant way to find something I can use for that…. Bonus!

Serendipity seems to be hanging around today, so, I’m going to take advantage of that, and jump into today’s dive for interesting stuff to chew on, or look at, or just feel…. I have a feeling myself, that it could turn out pretty well, according to our usual loose standards, anyway…. I think, in fact, we’ll take the upcoming opportunity I see, right there at the end of this paragraph, to dive right into the day’s search…. Okay, almost there…. wait…. wait for it…. okay, NOW!….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Ignorance can be cured. Stupid is forever.” — Smart Bee, being logical again….

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“It is up with you; all is over; you are ruined.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act i, Sc. 1, 9, (54.)

Oh… why, look there! It’s us, bombing people again, without a declaration of war from Congress. I don’t know about you, but, I’m getting more than just a little perturbed, not to say infuriated, by the American public’s acceptance of these completely illegal (under our own laws….), immoral, unethical, and fucking useless in any humanitarian, or practical respect, completely unwarranted attacks, on whomever we decide is a threat to our…… our what? What were these, no doubt, evil people doing that threatened us, here in our big houses, across the big ocean, with our big airplanes ready to bomb anyone foolish enough to annoy our corporate masters?….

Oh, right, didn’t I mention? I have no doubt whatsoever that, whomever we’re bombing now, if we examine the expressed reasoning closely, we will find that, somehow, in some way, these people were disrupting the smooth flow of money into the coffers of one, or more, of our corporate masters, er, patriotic businesses… It wouldn’t be supportive of the government to NOT protect the interests of those paying for the bombs, now would it? Of course not…. Naturally, since it costs about $75 million/day to bomb them, at least the arms makers are showing a good profit, yes?….

Did you detect just a little smarmy disdain in the above? If you did, you got it; if not, you’re not paying attention… Not unsurprising, given the brainwashing from which most Americans suffer; the media has helped the Beloved Ruling Class, and their employers, the corporate snakeheads, to spread their manipulations and distractions… oh, hell, let’s just call them what they are…. the lies they use on a regular basis, to distract the public from examining any true facts of what they’re up to, to manipulate the public and the media into believing those lies, as well as believing the other lies they tell, just because they can’t help themselves… just as if it were true, or legal, or had anything to do with helping the common man….

“I wish everybody would have to have an electric thing implanted in our heads that gave us a shock whenever we did something to disobey the president. Then somehow I get myself elected president.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

Hmm… the New American Dream, I’d say…. already half-true….

You may be certain of this… whatever spun-sugar the administration, which (who?) ordered and carried out this bombing, (An act which, again, was initiated without informing either Congress, or the public, anything about it beforehand….), in their Olympian fashion, deigns to tell us in this instance, about why we must bomb the Somalians, whatever THEY are up to, (oh, right… the article explains, they are “extremists”…), will NOT be anything resembling the actual truth, or anything that would help to resolve any real issues…. It will merely be whatever their information spin doctors have told them will fool the public into backing them, and fool the media into reporting all of it as if it were legitimate in any respect…. Count on it….

“The NY Times is read by the people who run the country. The Washington Post is read by the people who think they run the country. The National Enquirer is read by the people who think Elvis is alive and running the country…” — Robert J Woodhead

You may also count on the fact that, most likely, this is all about somebody’s profit line, and protecting a small group of “corporate persons”, aka “the men who would be kings”, who tend to feel that the money flowing into their pockets is theirs by right of entitlement; they firmly believe they are entitled to make a profit, no matter the cost to anyone else… Accept that, believe that, and you’ll have made a start, at finding out the actual truth behind most of what our government does, in any situation that comes to the attention of the public, and the media…. It’s all about covering the corporate ass, you betcha….

Now, you may think I’m being an obsessive conspiracy-monger, but, I doubt that, seriously. I don’t think it is a conspiracy; it’s simply the way it is…. The assholes to whom I refer are the same assholes who have had this country, and, for that matter, the world, in a stranglehold since the dawn of the concept of money…. They are just men, canny, strongly self-centered, and completely amoral, who have made it their habit, and lifestyle, for millennia, to take advantage of the way the system works, which is exactly how they have arranged it to work, with them as the only people in a position to control the whole shebang, from the shadows, where they are safe from those upon whom they prey….

Now, the system has grown to be so ponderous, so huge and unmanageable, that, while still protecting their identities by the very size of the system, it’s getting away from them a bit; a lot of information is now floating around out there on the Web they would rather stuff back into the box…But, sadly, not enough, yet, to make a difference in how things work, or, to change where we are headed, as a direct result of the insane machinations of mankind’s most amoral members… It may be too late altogether, to prevent their deliberate perpetration of the inequities they’ve built into our culture from leading all of us, them included, down that path followed already by so many failed species that have lived, and died, on this ball of mud over the last few epochs, since life began here on Earth….

I have a suspicion that we Humans won’t make much more of a splash, or have any more effect on reality, than did the passing of the Dodo, when Homo horriblus’s (our) voracious appetite for destructive insanity, and our failure to live up to our potential , led us to killing the last of the defenseless birds, just a couple hundred, or so, years ago…. When we have, in our turn, passed into memory, the Earth will, with a resigned sigh, in sorrow for the potential beauty that will never be, shrug its mountainous shoulders, shift around some basic elements, and begin the long slow process of healing the wounds we will have left behind us, in the final cataclysmic throes of our death-song…..

“As Caesar was at supper the discourse was of death, -which sort was the best. “That,” said he, “which is unexpected.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Caesar

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We’re in luck; but, then, you already knew that, as long as you read the intro section today…. Here is the haiku we found while wandering the back corridors of my mind…. along with another haiku, which I found, down another corridor I had entered, in trying to find the way back to the bus….

I love haiku, most likely because they are the only poems that don’t cause me any pain to write… In fact, I always enjoy the process with them…. It’s a bit like building myself a sundae, choosing the right ice cream, the right syrup…. and, with haiku, I can still eat the peanuts!… Yay! Here are the two for today…. Another reason to like haiku, in relation to the rest of this blog…. they aren’t long at all…. makes a nice contrast, doesn’t it? Enjoy!….

Luck at dawn

Swiftly, words float upto the surface of my mind.Serendipity.

~~ gigoid ~~

Sailing to Babel

Memory pulls hardon reality’s anchor.Anchor’s away, mate!

~~ gigoid ~~

Ah, hell, one more, just because I can….

Uncertainty

Save for the last time,this time would be the first time.Maybe, maybe not.

~~ gigoid, dubiously ~~

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The Pearl that was posted on tomorrow’s date two years ago, in 2012, was a very good Pearl…. In that post, there was an excellent photo, found on Facebook, that I thought was hilarious…. I had posted it a week or so previously, then challenged my readers to come up with their own captions… This time, I know how to include their links, to the blog sites they have, all of which are well worth a visit, or many….. Enjoy!…..

From 9/4/2012:

I have collected the captions submitted by readers, and they all are so good, I’ve decided to list them all…. or most of them…. some were submitted by ffolkes with a strange look in their eyes; those were deemed inappropriate for a general audience, and were left out. Actually, I burned them, as the mental equivalent to toxic waste….. But, these are funny…..

“So what if they say we’re a strange couple! Just ’cause we like different food doesn’t mean we can’t eat from the same table….” ~~ Carolyn of ABCSpirittalk

Some days, when blogging every day like this, it is necessary to accept the gifts we are given, without questioning why…. that’s why they’re called ‘gifts’…. In that spirit, today’s Pearl is hereby declared to be finished, complete with a number of gifts from whatever gods are currently on duty, fulfilling the universal requirements for serendipitous activity in this galactic sector….

gigoid has spoken…. so be it. …. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Today’s opening pearl is perfectly descriptive of how I feel…. I just don’t have it today…. I thought, yesterday, when I chose the picture, I could use its energy to stimulate something about which to write. Just look at the face of that young lioness cub, and the pose her mother assumes…. That is one boisterous child, I would guess, and Mama has a hard time keeping up with all the things she wants to get into…. When I first saw it, several years ago, I named the cub “Moxie”, because she looks like she has plenty…. The pic, by the way, was taken from the SFGATE Day in Pictures, many moons ago, and the photographer’s name is right there on it….

As for the wolf, whose ears I am gripping desperately, it may consume me before I can get to this, so, if today’s post never shows up, you’ll know why…. Oh, well, I guess that can’t be true, can it? I always forget about that negative reality shit, you know…. It comes from believing too much in such songs as Jimmy Buffet’s “If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s me!”….. If I let go of the wolf’s ears, long enough to type, he/she’s going to turn on me, and in my current state, the outcome would be fairly random, but, I’m pretty sure the wolf would win….. Generally, I’d give myself the edge, but, not today….

Without going into TMI, suffice it to say, I’m not in the best of moods, nor am I feeling particularly humorous or compassionate…. This can make for a strange day, not just for me, but for y’all, as well, as my feelings often crawl aboard whatever I’m creating, whether I wish it or not. It’s just something any artist has to learn, as the creative process can’t happen at all without some contribution of flesh and/or blood from the artist…. It just doesn’t compute, and whatever is created without that is bland, and devoid of any power….

Nonetheless, nothing much of a creative nature is going to come out of THIS head today, so, I’ll be filling in part of today’s effort with something from the archives….. In fact, I have a good idea for a piece, if I can find it….. One of these days, maybe I’ll go back and create an index of the Pearls, so I know which Pearl has what material, but, that won’t happen soon, as I’m not overly concerned with it…. I kind of like the surprises I get whenever I go through the stuff from the past three years or so…. I told you I was easily entertained….

For now, though, I see we’ve made it far enough to call this a wrap, or finished, or whatever little phrase we choose to indicate the end of another intro section, such as it may be…. It probably didn’t live up to the promise that Moxie’s portrait showed, but, it will have to do, as I’m NOT going to do it over…. I do have SOME pride, if only a smidgen…. It keeps me from getting overly strung out about all this, anyway, as I DO have to take responsibility; too much my father’s son, I suppose, to let someone else take the blame…. At any rate, since we’re already here, and ready,…..

Okay, here’s the deal…. I wasn’t going to rant today; I’m just not ready for it. But, this article set me off, after I received the link in an email from EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an internet watchdog organization, dedicated to keeping the Internet free, and fighting against the illegal use of spying over that internet as being perpetrated upon the public by the NSA, and the asshole politicians who hold their leash…. which has actually been removed, to allow the clandestine spying to take place in every possible illegal fashion….

In this article, you will be shown how the administration, yes, this “transparent” administration, is now so out of control, they believe they have the RIGHT to spy on us, and to lie to us about it…. I’m so pissed off about this one, I CAN’T rant; I’m almost speechless with rage, that the government of this country would go so far as to attempt to lie, in court, and to request the court to not only allow them to lie, but to not tell the other side of the suit against them that they made the request to redact material, AFTER it had already been related….

Such chutzpah! It takes a lot of gall, not to mention disrespect, to lie like that to the very people who elected you…. As it turns out, their paranoid redactions weren’t even necessary, as they hadn’t released the information they believed they had…. but, it served to highlight the lack of respect, the willingness to lie, and the sheer dishonesty that is being displayed, in a number of arenas, by this administration, and by our government at large…. They are not OUR government any longer, ffolkes….. They are off the leash, and out of control, believing they can do ANYTHING they want to do, without fear of consequence….

I don’t know about y’all, but, I’m getting damn tired of being lied to….. Let’s make a pearl, shall we?…. I can’t think of anything better to do with this angst just now, and ranting would just push my blood pressure through the rood again…. Let’s see what Smart Bee can find to help me work some of this off….

“Just because information has been published doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be classified.” — Lincoln D. Faurer, NSA director

“Government corruption will always be reported in the past tense.” — The Watergate Principle

“Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an audience.” — Diogenes

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful until it became risky.” — C.S. Lewis _The Screwtape Letters_

“Beautify America – Deport Congress!” — Smart Bee

So be it…. gigoid has spoken…..

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I know, I know, y’all are tired of my stuff, but, I don’t have the time or the energy to seek out anything else this morning, so, oh well…. Deal….. or, do like I do when I’m not feeling up to a poem, and skip down to section three…. I won’t mind….

Relative Cynicism, with Caramel Sauce

Absolute stillness follows violent movement, it can happen during a downhill race,as an immovable piece of asphalt pavement meets the once handsome racer’s face.

Yuk, yuk, yuk said that asshole Moe, after poking both of Larry’s eyes,bashing face, head, & crotch of Curly Joe and only ever got hit with pies.

Lonely moments never really come along when Murphy’s got us in his sights.Not for money, love, or siren’s song will he abrogate his natural rights.

All we can do is sigh, or laugh in pain, as Life portions out our ration of shit.Silver linings melt in the slightest rain, so we may as well learn to live with it.

Oscar hit the nail with this one, for sure; hell, I’ve been known to do this to myself!…. I gave ample warning of going into the archives for part of today’s Pearl, so, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise…. It’s not exactly a rant, but, more of a discussion of a point made by Gurdijeff, a twentieth century philosopher…. What could be more appropriate, on a day when we are taking pot shots at our Beloved Ruling Class, and the fine mess they’ve gotten us into…. Enjoy, please….

From 5/19/2012:

“If a sufficient number of people who wanted to stop war really did gather together, they would first of all begin by making war upon those who disagreed with them. And it is still more certain that they would make war on people who also want to stop wars but in another way.” — Gurdjieff (1873-1949)

Actually, this is not so much of a predictive statement as an observational one. It certainly matches what I know of much of history, and how little the actual reasons for fighting wars are understood by either those who fight in them, or those who cause them to be fought. Neither of those two groups are mutually inclusive, as well, so the reasons that one group may have, or believe they have, for fighting may be (and probably are…) much different from the other groups reasons, stated or actual.

Now, if I can be any less clear in my meaning, please let me know, because I think that paragraph is pretty well obscured…. What I’m trying to say is, the folks who get talked into fighting wars don’t fight for the same reasons as the folks who asked, or told, them to fight. That is because the folks who end up fighting are the honorable, dedicated men (and women) who believe that they are protecting the people they love. The folks who send them to fight are not as honorable, and their reasons for initiating the conflicts are seldom related to people, but rather to money or power, which is what they love. It is a perverted love, yes, but it is nonetheless the primary motivating factor for those who would have power over others, for money equals power in the reality they inhabit.

Gurdijeff’s statement is, I find, too limited in its scope; it doesn’t account for all the different reasons that people are motivated to fight wars. It is a fair and accurate assessment of what is a likely progression of events if men of little purpose beyond their own prejudices are united in cause, because, hey, humans here, not rational creatures by any means, especially in groups….. But humanity is comprised of more than just these folks, and all of the different kinds of people in our species have historically resorted to violent means to settle large disputes. It’s a human thing…. not pretty, but there it is, just like a pimple that won’t go away…..

So how does one stop war? Hmm… well, I can’t claim to have the answer to a question that several thousand years of human history has shown to be somewhat hard to solve with any lasting effect. I’ve managed to avoid taking part in the warlike actions that our country has involved itself in in my lifetime, having seen none that I could honestly say was as important to fight as the government was trying to tell me it was. If I’m going to die, it will be for an honorable goal, not for someone’s profit margin….

War isn’t going to stop unless we change the whole structure of our culture, and remove the benefits of one person having power over another. It’s a very deep, subtle, and pretty well impossible change, its success resting as it does in changing human nature…. That hasn’t happened in all of history so far, and I don’t see it happening anytime soon… so we’d best stay alert to avoid the worst of the fallout from whatever happens….

“If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?”– Smart Bee (It’s a subtle connection, but it’s there, trust me….)

There, now, wasn’t that SPECIAL?….. (Thank you, Gilda….)

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Today, I’m going to leave you with some Art…. This is an artist’s rendition, found in an article on Space.com, which explored the various theoretical methods of achieving interstellar travel, such as the one pictured, to wit: using an artificially created worm hole…. It really doesn’t have any particular meaning, not one that is connected to what has been discussed today…. It’s just that, the idea of space travel is one I’ve dreamed of my entire life, so, any kind of material that gives me hope of it happening, even if only in the far future, makes me feel better…. and, I like the picture, too….

As for the rest of today’s Pearl, well, it will just have to do, just the way it is, because it isn’t going to be done over, nor am I willing to forgo posting for a day I’m not ill or incapacitated…. Such as it is, here it is, so, please enjoy it, and I’ll see y’all tomorrow….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

“But I be a cat, and no cat anywhere ever gave anyone a straight answer.” — JoJo

That, of course, is true of all cats, all the time….. However, you CAN trust a cat to be straight with you, if it is asking for something…. Cats are completely shameless about that; they will always ask for what they want, figuring it is always worth the effort, since, if one doesn’t ask, one never knows, do one?…. Nope, so, they ask, and don’t get upset at whatever the answer may be…. Of course, if they DON’T get what they want, they will keep asking, in a louder voice, until you break down and give it to them….

Just look at that face! Focused, alert, terminally cute…. all the proper attitudes for the penitent beggar….. And, you can see in the eyes, she’ll do literally ANYTHING, if you’ll just give her whatever it is she’s asking for….. Well, or they’re saying, “Give it to me NOW! Your will is my will.”…. She’s got that intense, Svengali-like look to the eyes, doesn’t she? And all she really wants is some pets…. you know, a little scritch around the ears, or, best, along the jawline…. Purrrrr….

The picture is Jojo, the small, formerly feral cat who lives here for the time being…. It took us a while to come to terms, but, having lived with cats all my life, along with dogs, it’s only a matter of time before my superior scratching skills win them over…. That, and being knowledgeable enough about cat psychology to know how to respect their boundaries…. It’s all a matter of respect with cats…. if you don’t respect their nature, there will be continual struggles based on that misunderstanding, and you’ll find yourself wondering who is actually in charge of the house…. They can be stubborn when they feel insulted….

Okay, that was nice…. A bit of morning cuteness, some casual conversation, and we’re pretty much good to go for today’s intro…. It’s a bit shorter than some, but, short is okay, short is good…. especially since, yesterday, I got a bit carried away, to the tune of over 3200 words… That’s what happens when I try to combine two rants into one…. but, I think I got in some good blows to the body of the asininnies, so, I’m happy with it…. I just promised myself to make today’s effort more in line with the norm, whatever that is….

Such being the case, I’m now going to bring this to a close, and get on with the rest of this…. It’s not as if we don’t do this every day, now, is it? It is? Oh, hell, I was hoping y’all wouldn’t notice…. I should have had y’all busy doing something, like fastening your seat belts, or shining up the brass work, or something…. Oh, well, we’ll manage, even if you don’t pay attention to the standard rules of engagement, as we use them around here…. But, then, nobody ever does, so, what the hell, let’s get on with the show….

And, oh, yes…. as for cats being from this planet, I don’t think ANY of them are…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Life is short, art long, occasion sudden; to make experiments dangerous; judgment difficult. Neither is it sufficient that the physician do his office, unless the patient and his attendants do their duty, and that externals are likewise well ordered.” — Hippocrates (460-359 BC) — Aphorism i

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“Although it is tempting to resent disaster, there is not much use in doing so… Whether we remain ash or become the phoenix is up to us.” — Deng Ming-Dao

What you will find below was first posted as the entire Pearl of Virtual Wisdom on 10/28/2011, just a few months after I started on WordPress…. It’s a pretty good discussion, from a period when I had not yet firmed up either the format for Pearls, or my own style of writing…. I have gone through to edit, so it’s more user-friendly, bearing in mind what I’ve learned since then about how to put together a piece for posting…. I haven’t altered any of the ideas or concepts, just adjusted punctuation and grammar a bit…. I hope you enjoy it….

From 10/28/2011:

Our real self, the soul, is immortal. We may sleep for a little while in that change called death, but we can never be destroyed. We exist, and that existence is eternal. The wave comes to the shore, and then goes back to the sea; it is not lost.” — Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda was an Indian sadhu, a holy man. He was a teacher of yoga and philosophy, beloved around the entire world. He wrote the book “Autobiography of a Yogi”, which is held to be responsible for bringing the practice of meditation to the Western world. Now, yesterday, or perhaps the one before, I included here a quote from one of the Indian holy books written before the advent of Christ, in approximately 300 B.C. If you were to hold the two quotes together, it would be very difficult to tell whether or not they came from the same piece, or at least the same school of thought. But there are over two thousand years between the appearance of the first, and the writing of the second.

To me, this is one of the major reasons I often prefer the approach of the older religions to the questions of Life that they try to answer. Compared to most Christian, or Muslim writings, the passages from the Bhagavad Gita, the Dhammapada, and the older Hindu tomes written first in Sanskrit, all show a much greater understanding of how the universe works, without having to resort to the creation of one deity, who is omniscient, omnipotent, and all-seeing (it says so right here on the label), who strangely enough, resembles most an old Jewish patriarch, and who, oddly enough, has the behavioral characteristics of a jealous and spiteful little boy.

That whole batch of stories in the Old Testament about the prophets like Job, and Lot, are like reading a soap opera script, complete with deus ex machinae. It’s the sort of story that first drove me away from Christian teachings, which proclaim to be merciful, but have been perverted to rationalize prejudice and racism, causing me to seek out more logical, evidence-based philosophies, that encourage diversity and reason. I’ve never looked back, and, thus, have never risked becoming a pillar of salt…..

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William S. Smith, Paris, Nov. 13, 1787

In the past few years, since the advent of Homeland Insecurity, I have watched the more conservative elements of our society pull back, just like a tortoise who sees danger, and retreats into his hopefully impervious shell. And at the creation of each new regulation to curtail one of our liberties, I have watched with somber regard, ashamed of my country. We were attacked on 9/11/01, yes. But why? Has anyone ever stopped to ask that question? Well yes, some did, and they were shouted down as being unpatriotic. Apparently, holding fast to the liberties provided for us by Mr. Jefferson, et al, has become an unpatriotic act.

It is unpatriotic for me to object to having my private information and home privacy invaded, as well as to complain when it has been curtailed. It is supposedly unpatriotic to object out loud to any of the measures taken; the pundits will scream their tiny little heads off, using every fear of the unknown that they can come up with to frighten and distract the public. I recently broached a radical idea, in one of my pieces, when I suggested we, as Americans, should consider the concept of another American Revolution. I pointed out that the men and women who fought against English rule in the late 1700’s did so because they wanted to govern themselves, to “pursue happiness” according to their own rules, rather than living with rules and taxes laid upon them by people who were only interested in profits and power.

Sound familiar? Today, we are living under the same sort of oppression; the people who are elected in this country run for the office not because they are public-spirited, but because it is the best way to achieve power over others. I cannot think of one single elected representative that did not lie to the public to obtain office, nor can I come up with a name of one who didn’t continue to lie once elected. It’s pathetic how stupid the general public has become, so focused on the details of living that they can’t spare the intellectual energy to question their beloved ruling class. I’m not sure anymore that there are any Americans left who believe in what Tom Jefferson said above; they’d all rather just kick back and watch hockey, whining like children when the beer’s too warm……..

“Freedom is just a hallucination created by a pathological lack of paranoia.” — Smart Bee (Scary, if true…..)

I think I’ve chosen poorly this morning, which isn’t surprising. I had a lot to say about this when I first picked it, but I can see that most of the subject was covered above. It might be amusing to try to go humorous with it, but I’m not in the mood today for that; too much sheer anger built up against the forces of Dark, aka Ann Coulter, Karl Rove, Bush I or II, or any of the other crop of folks who prefer to keep the public in a state of constant turmoil, in order to distract them from what they are actually doing. It is hard for me to accept the whole “water-boarding” controversy, because I had assumed that our leaders were people of integrity, not hypocrisy.

Torture, to my way of thinking, is an act of cowardice, only used by those who believe that the end justifies the means in all cases; it doesn’t fit with my image of how a free man functions. Cowards who live in constant fear that someone will really see what a coward they are, who will say or do anything to maintain their own little kingdom of influence. Sometimes the end CAN justify the means, but not most of the time. Most of the time, it merely serves as a way to comfort their innate insecurity, and keep them from assuming either guilt, or responsibility for their actions, which they KNOW to be immoral, unethical, and, most likely, illegal according to our Constitution.

This could go on forever; I have a lot of powerful emotion behind these ideas, and could sit here all day, taking shots at the talking heads. But, I do have other stuff to get done today, so I’ll leave it here. Feel free to comment, positively or otherwise; dialogue is always welcome here. In the meantime, y’all take care out there…..

“I think we should stop looking for issues to discuss. I think we should shut up and get to work.” — Howard Chaykin

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On days like this, when I’ve sublimated a rant out of the archives, I like to go with this poet, one of the best of the twentieth century, a true poet of the people…. I give you, the inimitable Charles Bukowski….

Alone With Everybody

the flesh covers the bone and they put a mind in there and sometimes a soul, and the women break vases against the walls and the men drink too much and nobody finds the one but keep looking crawling in and out of beds. flesh covers the bone and the flesh searches for more than flesh.

there’s no chance at all: we are all trapped by a singular fate.

nobody ever finds the one.

the city dumps fill the junkyards fill the madhouses fill the hospitals fill the graveyards fill

nothing else fills.

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

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I find myself in the throes of laziness, which, though nothing new, is nonetheless problematic, striking as it is mid-blog…. Such a conundrum might have sent me off into the archives again, to find another fill-in piece, but, I’m going to be a good boy, and put together a fresh pearl, if for no other reason than to take the sails out of the argument I’ll give myself later….

See, even in the midst of an internal debate, I can think ahead! Getting older DOES have certain advantages, with foresight being one of the more important ones, one that saves us old farts a lot of energy that would otherwise be spent foolishly on wasted effort…. and, yes, that could be called pandering to myself…. Enjoy it anyway, if you believe you should…. If not, well, there is little I can do to help you at this point; you’re what we would normally call toast, by any other name….

“Have you ever wondered why you always run out of breath when you throw up? Ah, but a man’s retch should exceed his gasp, else what’s a heaving for?” — Smart Bee

(Sorry, really, I couldn’t help it…. it’s just such a wonderful pun!…. Gotta love that Scottish wit….. I’ll do better, promise….)

“In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it’s a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security in risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side.” — Theodore Forstmann

“It is fatal to be right when the rest of the world is wrong.” — Brother Theodore

“There’s always a bigger fish.” — Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode I

“Three doctors were talking about their favorite patients. The first said that he preferred operating on Germans because their organs were lined up in exactly the right position. The second preferred Japanese because not only were their organs in exactly the right position, but they were also color coded. The third chimed in too. “I’ll take lawyers any day. Ever open one of those suckers up? Only two working parts – the mouth and the anus, and they’re interchangeable.” — Smart Bee

I love it! This pearl, eclectic though it may be, is rock solid, ffolkes…. Bookended by Smart Bee, bolstered with wisdom from Mom, Qui-Gon, and Mark Twain, how could it be anything but amazing!…. If you read them with the right squint, and allow your mind to be guided, the mind-set where you end up will leave you breathless…. guaranteed…. I mean that in the best way, of course, not in the same sense as the first pearl in this section….

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Well! That was…. something. I think I’d better go take a look at it, now that it’s done…. I’ll be back shortly….

See, that never takes long, does it?…. It’s almost like being a Time Lord when I do that…. Now, how to describe the unthinkable…. You know what? I think I’d be better off not to try…. It could get explosive, and who knows what it might do to the space-time continuum, which is shaky enough these days?…. We’ll just close our eyes to any potential hazards, and wish y’all happy trails….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…..

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

When I first began this version of gigoid’s folly (the original title of my blogging efforts….Now, of course, we dignify it, as Exploring Consensual Reality….), here on WordPress, in the latter half of 2011, I had already been sending it out via email for many years, first in computer school, then at work, once the state hospitals and developmental centers (where I was mainly employed for many years….) finally embraced computers…. At Napa State Hospital, where I was a program secretary, then, the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director of the Hospital, I sent it out every day to about 300 or so people, in its prior incarnation…. It was formatted a bit differently, but, you’d recognize it, mainly because of the pearls….

All this is merely a lead in, designed to give me an opening to speak in a certain direction…. Over the course of the three or so years at this site, now with my own domain, I’ve learned quite a bit, about the process of writing, and about the necessary issues involved in publishing a daily blog of this sort…. because it’s different than what I did before. The difference is one I can’t explain, exactly, but, it mostly has to do with how the material is, first, organized, and secondly, presented…. either of which, should they become corrupted, can obviously corrupt the remainder….. Yes, even this process is subject to both entropy, and Murphy’s less-than-welcome attentions….

At this point, you’re probably asking yourself, “Now what’s he trying to pull?”….. I can’t blame you for that; I’ve got priors, I know…. But, today, my blather has merely served to get us down this far on the screen, to fill the space between up there, and down here, with something worthwhile, or, at minimum, distracting enough to keep the gentle readers from realizing we’re just wandering in a circle again….. Yep, I’m totally out of ideas to begin today, so, I thought this might work to keep y’all busy and distracted from realizing we’re again sans material for an intro…..

I’m not sure if it’s legal, or not, nor do I much care, at this point…. I’ve already gone too far…. We’re committed, and there’s no going back now…. not for me…. Y’all, of course, can bail whenever you like, but, I’m hoping you’ll stick around long enough for me to get to at least one part of today’s effort…. Not that there’s anything special planned, I just like to know that SOMEBODY will read what I write, if only for the ego-stroke I get from seeing more visitors…. I don’t write to be a popular blogger; it’s still mostly to get this crap out of my head…. But, it’s nice to know others like it, occasionally….

Look at it this way…. How many other blogs do you go to where you can find almost a thousand words on NOTHING MUCH, in the beginning, before even approaching anything resembling a subject for discussion or dissection? Not many, I’m sure….. And, who would be so honest about spewing BS? Nobody, that’s who…. I’m fully aware of what I’m doing, but, I also know it won’t harm anyone, unless they try to argue with it, at which point they usually discover how WRONG they are, to attempt any sort of critical analysis of material that is evidentially solid, such as the material generally presented here, whereupon they slink off to lick the figurative wounds to their respective egos…

Oh, look! I believe I’ve done it again…. Wandering, rambling, blathering about very little…. to look at it, and to think about it, one might think it would be pretty much useless…. but, one more time, we’ve managed to get far enough into the morass to find our way back to reality, where we are now legally allowed to call this an intro, and get on with the day’s business, such as it may be…. What do you know about that?….. Huh.

I’ll stop the sarcasm now, and get on with it….. Sorry, ffolkes, but, some days, it just POURS out, and I can’t do anything about it, but type…. and carry on with what I do in place of prayer….

Shall we Pearl?……

“Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

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In this section, we have been running a new style pearl, (there’s that royal ‘we’ again….), with pictures to go along with whatever quotes and/or comments I come up with…. The latest incarnation involves a new subject of interest, the Wise Old Pine Cone, who has been kind enough to allow me to photograph his wanderings around town, to record his interactions with people, and the environment, as he wends his way around the town….. Yesterday, I posted the photos of when I accompanied him to the local ball team’s night game, which came out fairly well….

Sadly, the Wise Old Pine Cone, by the time we left the ball park, had consumed WAY too many brewskis, and has yet to get out of bed…. He’s pretty small, and a few beers really do a number on him; I’ve seen him stay in bed for three days after a bad session with wine, and beer isn’t any better for him…. He’ll be alright, but, he’ll be out of action for a day or two, so, we’ll have to find something else for this section….. Let me think….

Okay, you’ve convinced me…. I’ll rant….

“There is nothing a man can do to guarantee success, but there is nothing that can defeat him if he won’t give up.” — Greg Praino

Well, perhaps I won’t rant today; it doesn’t mean I’m giving up, but…. I just went to look for a rantable headline from the news…. Of the eleven headlines on the world news page, eight were about various bombings, battles, or other war activities, mostly in the middle east, where the Islamic sects are all fighting to see who will become the sole arbiter of the Muslim future….. never realizing how silly and counter-productive they are being, in terms of survival…. But, then, most people engaged in war are not in a very intelligent frame of mind, anyway….

(And, how can a Muslim extremist group name themselves after an Egyptian goddess over seven thousand years old {Isis}? I thought they hated ANY other religion…. Ah well, stupid is as stupid does…)

The point is, I couldn’t decide WHICH subject to rant about…. There are plenty of wars being fought, none of which make any sense…. There are governments still robbing the people, or oppressing them unmercifully; the churches are still butting into everything, as is their habit…. I see where the Pope is trying to be a mediator between Israel & Palestine (good luck with that!….), and now, the Presbyterian Church is doing SOMETHING over in Iraq, or Iran, to get involved with that whole mess…. what a bunch of idiots!…

Cars and factories are still streaming carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide into the air by the hundreds of millions of tons, every day, so pollution continues unabated, and climate change keeps changing, so, we can kiss our asses goodbye, once we figure out how long we have…. Religious fanatics and fundies of all varieties continue to wage their holy wars, blaming all that is wrong in the world on anything but their own actions…. Bankers and politicians continue to work together to steal everything that isn’t nailed down from the public, all enforced by paramilitary police forces, blindly obedient myrmidons with guns, and really bad attitudes, due to their completely unwarranted sense of entitlement regarding their psycho/sociopathic need to be seen as authority figures….

All of the insanity I’ve previously commented upon here continues, relatively unabated, as the world skips merrily down what it BELIEVES is the garden path, completely oblivious, calmly seated in a handbasket, never even wondering why it is getting so bloody hot…. And people wonder why I rant….

I found no particular headline to get me started, but, as can be seen by the above, none are really necessary for me to find my anger about the state of the world…. My anger is based in the realization that NONE of it is necessary; if people would take responsibility for themselves, and stand up to the assholes who are oppressing everyone who puts up with it, we could fix this broken puppy….

I’m a realist, though, and, as far as I can see, realistically, it ain’t gonna happen…. so, I’ll pick a few pearls, to make how I feel about it clear, and be done with it for today…. I’m mad, but, so mad, I don’t even want to talk about it any more….. Here, take these…. No worries, you’ll live; there are only five of them….

“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.” — John Locke

“All I know is just what I read in the Congressional Record. They have had some awful funny articles in there lately. As our government deteriorates, our humor increases.” — Will Rogers

“I have never found, in a long experience of politics, that criticism is ever inhibited by ignorance.” — Harold MacMillan

“You know how dumb the average guy is? Well, by definition, half of them are even dumber than THAT.” — J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, ripping off George Carlin, who made that point YEARS before Bob finished puberty….

Sometimes, I don’t even know why I like a poem…. but, then, I don’t have to know…. enjoy!

Brown Penny

I WHISPERED, ‘I am too young,’And then, ‘I am old enough';Wherefore I threw a pennyTo find out if I might love.‘Go and love, go and love, young man,If the lady be young and fair.’Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,I am looped in the loops of her hair.O love is the crooked thing,There is nobody wise enoughTo find out all that is in it,For he would be thinking of loveTill the stars had run awayAnd the shadows eaten the moon.Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,One cannot begin it too soon.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

I know, I know, it doesn’t even rhyme…. oh well, I suppose there’s no accounting for taste….. which is something one might say in response to most anything, if you think about it…. But, I don’t want to think about it…. so, I won’t…. so there…. Now that I’ve finished being two years old….

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It’s a strange morning; it must have something to do with it being the weekend of the Pirate Festival here where I live…. Things always get a bit weird when everyone in town is walking around in big hats, with patches over their eye, going “Yar!”, or “Aye, matey!”…. It seems to do something really different to the local ambiance, making it okay to be as odd as one wishes…. In light of that, we’ll go with an old-school, parameter-less pearl, to provide the proper strange finish to this very odd Pearl…. Let’s see what SB can come up with today….

You may be capable of great things,
But life consists of small things.

— Deng Ming-Dao

“Take a straw and throw it up into the air,–you may see by that which way the wind is.” — John Selden (1584-1654) — Libels

“I am quite sure that (bar one) I have no race prejudices, and I think I have no color prejudices or caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. Indeed I know it. I can stand any society. all that I care to know is that a man is a human being – that is enough for me; he can’t be any worse.”– Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910) — Harper’s Magazine, September, 1899

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone?

— Joni Mitchell, “They Paved Paradise”

“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave…” — Ernest Hemingway, “A Farewell to Arms”

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle

“If ever you had to kill someone, could you do it?” — Turlough, TERMINUS

Wow! I guess Aristotle is right….. and, in my opinion, so was Mark Twain….

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Without even going back to look, I know this one is going to haunt me at night, unless I can completely block out the memory of today, & pretend it never happened….. which will probably be worth the effort…. I’m not even going to think about it…. I will, however, be back tomorrow…. See ya, ffolkes….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.

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gigoid

Ned Moore, aka gigoid, is a 64 year-old, (!!!… When did that happen?….), retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat, most days. His first blog, "gigoid’s folly", has been emailed out to folks he knows for about 15 years now. He still considers it his best defense against angst, and the ever-present specter of sheer insanity..... Due to rigorous curmudgeon training requirements, he has discontinued his Facebook presence, but still indulges in the occasional Twitter session... In essence, he's socialized, but, not overly sociable; all labels and stereotypes are forbidden in his presence... and he doesn't care what anyone thinks about that..... In fact, he doesn't want to talk anymore....
If you feel you MUST contact gigoid, his email address is:
alphagigoid@gmail.com
You can go read now.... Go on, beat it....
gigoid, the dubious